Chinese Gaming Industry Posts $9.7 Billion USD Revenue in 2012

Online gaming posted the lion’s share of revenue, followed by mobile gaming.

Big news in little China. It seems that the video game industry in the land of the rising sun has grown by 35.1 percent on a year to year basis to to reach a total estimated revenue of $9.7 billion USD.

Techweb posted data released in the 2012 China Games Industry Report, and unsurprisingly, online gaming accounts for 90 percent of total revenue in their gaming industry. That means around $9.1 billion USD.

Considering the craze behind free to play titles and online RPGs in China, it’s easy to see how the mobile gaming market is still experiencing growing pains with just $520 million USD in 2012.

But at least they’re doing better than gaming consoles, which account for a measly 0.1 percent of revenue thanks to the legal hassles of releasing consoles in the Chinese market.

The report also indicated that the industry was expected to hit $21.7 billion USD by the end of 2017, with an annual growth rate of 12.4 per cent as cheaper handsets and mobile technology sees an upswing.